NBA-Highlights of Monday's NBA games

March 31 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Monday's National Basketball Association games. - - - Spurs 103, Pacers 77 San Antonio guard Tony Parker scored a game-high 22 points, leading the Spurs to a win over the struggling Indiana Pacers and into club history. The win was a regular-season, franchise-record 18th straight for NBA-best San Antonio (58-16). The Spurs' last loss came Feb. 21 at Phoenix. Indiana, on the other hand, lost for the fifth time in six games and was knocked out of first place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat (51-22) took the lead by mere percentage points. Paul George scored 16 points for the Pacers (52-23) who were booed by the home fans in their worst home loss of the season. - - - Heat 93, Raptors 83 LeBron James had 32 points, seven rebounds and eight assists as the Miami Heat earned an important win in the battle for the top record in the Eastern Conference, defeating the Toronto Raptors. By virtue of the win and the Indiana Pacers' loss to the San Antonio Spurs earlier Monday, the Heat (51-22) lead in the loss column in the competition for the best record in the East. The Pacers (52-23) are in second place by percentage points. Toronto (42-32) was led by shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who had 16 points, but they had their three-game win streak snapped despite Miami playing without Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen and Greg Oden. - - - Clippers 114, Timberwolves 104 Darren Collison stepped into the starting lineup for the ailing Los Angeles Clippers and led the way with 28 points to help them knock off Minnesota. The Clippers (53-22) were without All-Star forward Blake Griffin, sixth-man of the year candidate Jamal Crawford, guard J.J. Redick and forward Danny Granger but got the boost they needed. Chris Paul, starting at guard alongside Collison, had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds after he had reached 30 points in consecutive games. Kevin Love led the Minnesota (36-37) with 20 points and 13 rebounds. - - - Knicks 92, Jazz 83 Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points and the New York Knicks wrapped up their five-game Western Conference road trip with a run-away win as they kept pace in the playoff race. The victory kept the Knicks (32-43) one game behind Atlanta for the East's final playoff spot. Tyson Chandler scored 15 points with nine rebounds for New York who played without starting power forward Amar'e Stoudemire, who was given the night off to rest. Gordon Hayward (18 points) and Alec Burks (17 points) led Utah offensively, but the Jazz lost for the fifth straight time. - - - Grizzlies 94, Nuggets 92 Zach Randolph scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and guard Mike Conley added 19 points, including a key 3-pointer in the final minute, as the Memphis Grizzlies held on to beat the Denver Nuggets. After reaching the Western Conference Finals last year, the Grizzlies (44-30) are just trying to make the playoffs this year. They pulled even with the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns in a tie for seventh in the West with eight games remaining for each. Denver (32-42) was trying to bounce back from a 31-point home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. - - - Bulls 94, Celtics 80 Mike Dunleavy scored 22 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a victory over the Boston Celtics. Joakim Noah added 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Bulls (42-32) who are fourth in the Eastern Conference. The teams played for the second consecutive night. On Sunday in Boston, the Celtics gave the Bulls all they could handle before falling 107-102. - - - Bobcats 100, Wizards 94 Kemba Walker had 21 points and 10 assists, and center Al Jefferson had 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Charlotte Bobcats rallied to beat the Washington Wizards. The Bobcats (36-38), sixth in the Eastern Conference, came back from a 60-44 halftime deficit and won by outscoring the seventh place Wizards (38-36) 19-4 over the last 6:43. - - - Hawks 103, 76ers 95 Paul Millsap had 28 points and 17 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers to snap a six-game losing streak. Lou Williams came off the bench to score eight of his 22 points in the final three minutes as the Hawks (32-41) broke away from a late tie at 92 to hold onto the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference despite 20 losses in their past 27 games. Thaddeus Young had 23 points for the 76ers (16-58), who had snapped a record-tying 26-game losing streak on Saturday. - - - Pistons 116, Bucks 111 Greg Monroe tied his season high with 28 points, and the Detroit Pistons snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Detroit forward Josh Smith tossed in 26 points, and point guard Brandon Jennings supplied 20 points and 13 assists. - - - Kings 102, Pelicans 97 DeMarcus Cousins tied his season high with 35 points and rookie point guard Ray McCallum scored 10 of his career-high 22 points in the fourth quarter to spark the Sacramento Kings to a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Anthony Davis led New Orleans with 22 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. (Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)